tyb smashing job. keep it going.
piles of shit
from 2017
Northam faces conflict of interest questions over stock portfolio filled with Virginia businesses
As a state senator, Ralph Northam began expanding his financial portfolio to include stock in companies that do extensive business in Virginia. In early 2013, he reported owning between $10,000 and $50,000 of stock in Dominion Energy, Virginia's largest utility and the top corporate donor to local campaigns.
Later that year, Northam voted on eight Senate bills Dominion lobbied on. As lieutenant governor in 2015, he praised legislation that suspended audits of Dominion by state regulators, a measure denounced by consumer advocates but touted on Wall Street as a boon to shareholders.
And if Northam, a Democrat, is elected governor next month, he probably will approve or veto bills that affect the utility – and very likely the value of his personal investment. The same is true for the other companies active in Virginia in which he owns stock: AT&T, Bank of America, Norfolk Southern, Kraft Heinz, DuPont, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson and Mondelez International.
Northam and his Republican opponent in the race, Ed Gillespie, have had extensive financial or business relationships with companies active in Virginia, raising questions about how those ties could influence their governance of a state known for unusually lax ethics laws. Northam's investment in Dominion – although apparently permissible under Virginia's ethics laws – already has opened him up to accusations that he has put the company's bottom line ahead of the public's interests.
In particular, he has come under attack from environmentalists for not opposing a 600-mile natural gas pipeline Dominion is planning to build with several smaller partners.
Environmentalists say the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would damage some of the state's most naturally pristine areas, while proponents – including Gillespie and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe – say it would curb energy costs and create 8,800 jobs. Northam has tried to stake out middle ground by calling for a "rigorous and transparent" review of the pipeline's environmental impact.
Northam says that if elected governor, he would put his stock investments in a blind trust managed by a trustee who could sell or purchase stock without his knowledge. The campaign notes that he has backed some policies opposed by Dominion, including McAuliffe's veto of a 2016 bill that would have extended tax credits for coal plants.
"I have always put the interests of those I have served first, and I promise to do that as governor," Northam, a pediatric neurologist, said in a statement to The Washington Post.
But some pipeline opponents argue that Northam can't help but be influenced by his Dominion investments.
"Your personal investments and campaign contributions weigh on decisions, that's just reality, and Dominion is such a force in Virginia politics," said David Sligh, conservation director of Wild Virginia, a nonprofit group that opposes the pipeline.
Gillespie has mutual funds and partnership interests in three investment funds but no stock holdings, according to his campaign disclosure form. Last year, he advised four companies with vast interests in the state – AT&T, Bank of America, Microsoft and Anthem. If elected governor, Gillespie would almost surely face legislative or policymaking decisions affecting his former clients' interests.
Gifts scandal involving former Gov. Robert McDonnell triggers debate over Virginia ethics laws.
Virginia's conflict-of-interest laws generally allow lawmakers and state officials to vote on legislation affecting a company in which they own stock if colleagues own stock in the company and so also would be affected. For example, the law seems to permit Northam's votes on bills affecting the utility in 2013 because several other state senators also had holdings in Dominion.
rest at link
https://www.pilotonline.com/government/virginia/article_83359e8b-5348-5f69-90e2-44d6cd123b73.html
>Northam declares emergency, VA patriots flock to buy guns. Ruger's stock goes up, Vanguard's value goes up, Dominion must surely also benefit. While, perhaps, not insider trading, this took a complete noviceanon 20 minutes to put together.
nailed it
baker if you can remove the insider traing from
>7847224
YANK01 and 02 Guardrails up and heading for surv duty in Lithuania.
yes. spent enough time in that in a previous life. that's how it works.